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Ex-congressman played baseball with new Hall of Famer

Former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.) may never get to serve in the Senate, but he can now say he has played baseball with a Hall of Famer.

Turns out Schaffer was teammates in high school with former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, the latest player to be elected into the elite group of baseball greats.

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The ex-congressman, who served three House terms before falling short in 2004 and 2008 bids for the Senate, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that he was “just OK” at baseball. But Larkin was another story: “All of a sudden, when [Larkin] took the field for practice, you could tell right away he was better than everyone else. No grounders got by him, but it was mainly at the plate. He was a 16-year-old who never missed, a line-drive machine.”

Schaffer, a high school senior in 1980 when Larkin was a sophomore, says at first, not everyone was happy with the future pro’s rise through the high school sports ranks: “I remember there was some grumbling from the infielders. I was an outfielder, so I didn’t care.”

Schaffer is now a high school principal, according to the newspaper.

Larkin, who played for the Reds from 1986 to 2004, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in July.